Search Resumes In Hit-and-run Fatality

Search To Resume In Fatal Hit-and-run

NEW BRITAIN — The search was to continue today for a missing Ansonia police officer believed to be distraught over his possible role in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Beacon Falls Tuesday.

State troopers and New Britain police, aided by a helicopter and a state police bloodhound, fanned out Thursday in the 5,000 acres of forest surrounding Shuttle Meadow Reservoir, near where Officer John R. Drobot was last seen Wednesday afternoon. The search was suspended Thursday afternoon and was to begin again this morning.

A New Britain police officer involved in the search said that Drobot, a decorated two-year member of the Ansonia department, left a suicide message on his telephone answering machine at his house. He also left behind his police badge.

New Britain police said officers in Ansonia reported Drobot missing Wednesday. Police said they believe Drobot, 29, a former Marine who lives on Brooklawn Street in New Britain, was armed with his 45-caliber service pistol and was despondent over his possible role in a fatal motor vehicle accident.

Drobot's car has been linked to the hit-and-run death of 20-year-old Kevin B. Boyle of Waterbury on Route 8 in Beacon Falls Tuesday night, police said. Boyle was helping to fix a flat tire for a stranded motorist when he was struck and killed.

State police seized Drobot's Camaro Wednesday night at Schaller Honda in New Britain, where Schaller employees said the car had been dropped off for repairs of collision damage to a front fender and bumper.

The possibility that Drobot was a suspect in the hit-and-run shocked those who knew him.

"I think he must have panicked," Ansonia police Commissioner Eugene K. Baron said. "It's difficult enough to investigate these kinds of tragedies. But to actually be involved in one, as a police officer, it's got to be a terrible weight."

Baron said Drobot had received commendations from the police

commission and had come to the Ansonia Police Department two years ago with "excellent recommendations" from the state police training academy.

"He's a very level-headed guy and a very good employee," Baron said.

New Britain police Sgt. Henry J. Orzel said Drobot was last seen at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday walking alone on Shuttle Meadow Avenue near Corbin Avenue. He was wearing an orange shirt and carrying a plastic bag.

Orzel described Drobot as about 5 foot 10, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Residents on Reservoir Road said Thursday they heard what sounded like a .45-caliber gunshot around 10 a.m.

Felix Kummer, who lives on Reservoir Road, said the sound came from the vicinity of West Canal, an old canal that links with Shuttle Meadow Reservoir on property owned by the New Britain Water Department. Kummer, who said he has heard gunshots from hunters in the area, said that this one was different: the lone blast was heard during the day. The gunshots he normally hears are fired at night and are repeated, he said.

Earlier Wednesday, state police had put out a public plea for information related to the accident on Route 8 Tuesday night. Police said the incident began about 9:45 p.m. when a car blew a tire in the left lane on the northbound side of Route 8 in Beacon Falls.

Boyle, who was driving another car, pulled ahead of the disabled vehicle and got out to help fix the tire. Boyle was struck by a passing car while he was kneeling in the roadway and working on the tire, police said.

Boyle was taken by ambulance to Waterbury Hospital, where he later died.

The section of Route 8 where the accident occurred is on the route Drobot would take on his way home to New Britain from the Ansonia Police Department. Police said Drobot normally works 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but could not provide details of Drobot's hours on the day of the accident.

Before enrolling at the police academy, Drobot worked for a year as a foreman at Tectonic Industries in Berlin, where personnel officer Pam Cilfone said Drobot had an excellent record